Re: Time in the Plaster Room
Karen Steele
Description
Collection
Title:
Re: Time in the Plaster Room
Creator:
Karen Steele
Date:
12/27/2000
Text:
John -
Didn't mean to single you out. Your post was just convenient fodder. It
represented the attitudes that I hear coming from the O&P profession all too
well. I wanted to quote someone directly.
I don't think you clearly explained how my take on the causes that make it
economic suicide for you to enter our profession are not accurate.
I understand that, individually, most practitioners don't have the time or
resources to do the sorts of research, engineering and development that
really needs to be done. That's why you have groups like the Academy.
Ideally individuals like you pool your resources and set up research
centers... ASME (American Society of Mechanical Engineers) provides a venue
for the development of engineering standards. They even pay a few engineers
a professional salary to do the work. Why not do the same thing at the
Academy?
You make the mistake of comparing yourself to surgeons, again. There is no
comparison. It doesn't take a world renowned heart surgeon to fabricate a
good orthosis. It takes a good practitioner who takes a careful impression
and communicates the design needs to the technician who is fabricating the
orthosis. It also takes a technician who works with and listens to the
orthotist. They've both gotta be willing to learn from each other, too.
I happen to live in a place where, if I had a major health problem, I'd go
elsewhere. I don't think that that's a good excuse for the lack of good
professional O&P care in my area, though. Out of the 6 practitioners that
have built an orthosis for me in the last 30+ years, the two worst have been
in major metropolitan areas. At least one of those (maybe both, I don't
recall) was an ABC certified orthotist. I got the best orthotic care from a
little shop in a little town run by a BOC orthotist who had a technician and
a part time receptionist. So, major metropolitan areas are 0 for 2.
Suburban America is 1 for 4. I think I'll stick with the little guys.
By the way, there is an ABC accredited shop run by an ABC orthotist that is
no more than 10 miles from me. I still prefer to drive 100 miles.... so
much for credentials ensuring good care....
I noticed early on that the only guys you listen to were other orthotists or
prosthetists. No one else could ever understand the problems you have in
the clinic.... I'm sure that, to a certain extent, your view of
non-practitioners has been tainted by a few encounters with really nerdy
engineers and scientists who know more about math than they do about time
constraints, psychology, and communication. Yes, there are lots of those in
my field. We tend to get myopic and concentrate so hard on the problem we
are trying to solve that we lose sight of the big picture. It's impossible
for us to get our heads out of sand (or wherever else they might be
stuck...)
I've said too much, again.... just want to get dialogue going so that you
guys can start dealing with the issues that really affect patient care -
quality components, quality fits, effective R&D - and get over all this
bickering about certification.... it hasn't protected me from bad orthotic
care....
Karen
----Original Message Follows----
From: <Email Address Redacted>
To: <Email Address Redacted>
CC: <Email Address Redacted>
Subject: Re: [OANDP-L] Time in the Plaster Room
Date: Tue, 26 Dec 2000 22:23:24 EST
Karen:
Since you through my name around a few times I feel the need to respond. You
seem to need a bit more comprehension and a little less engineering because
you failed to grasp the meaning of my comment regarding the plaster room.
I
certainly didn't think everyone should spend time in the room; it was a
figure of speech. In other words the individual had a limited perspective,
albeit correct, that led him to judge the profession unfairly as to the
causes of his predicament. I think that individual and you share the same,
rather accurate perspective, but your take on the causes that make it
economic suicide for you to enter our profession are not accurate. Your
experience with less than competent practitioners aside, the field is not
dominated by these individuals. Geography however, does tend to concentrate
the average and below average talent to rural, and yes, less economically
viable practices. But the same is historically true for other medical fields
in rural areas. Have you berated the American Academy of Cardiac Surgeons as
well this week? Good and talented practitioners work in high volume,
demanding environments where the emphasis is on quality work and creative
solutions and the patient volume and pay is there to cultivate and reward
those talents. Just the environment that you would not only thrive in but
probably enjoy. The practitioner that was lucky enough to work with you
would
probably learn a great deal too. Orthotics is as much art, psychology, and
indeed experience as it is engineering. A bias in any direction that is
unbalanced creates holes in an individual's ability to meet the needs of a
certain patients. The profession is evolving. (That was the gist of my
previous comments in total) Any evolving profession or design for that
matter
undergoes change, improvement and sometimes failure. As a clinician, I
employ many engineering principles daily, practice psychology by the seat of
my pants as a necessity and most importantly have to make a business with
thin margins run on a daily basis, I am as frustrated with the fact that I
can't employ and pay you (and folks with your credentials) what you're worth
to get you in my business - just as you are with your wasted time and money.
If you could come in tomorrow and see 12 patients a day, converse
intelligently with physicians without upsetting their delicate egos, survive
encounters with therapists who run the gamut as far as experience and
perception of orthotists and still manage to design effective, cosmetic and
functional orthoses, and ... at the same time convince an insurer who has
even less education than me and my colleagues to pay you fairly and promptly
for your work: then I have a job for you, tomorrow. And you can name your
price! Call me if your confidence is as certain as your criticism. The
everyday practitioner has little to do with your predicament. The continuum
of time will show that our greatest failure has been our inability to
legitimize our profession with science and yes, engineering credentials. The
average practitioner is trying to survive and practice his/her livelihood.
There is little time to conspire to keep the very essence of our work from
linking up with us.
Jim Rogers, CPO
_________________________________________________________________
Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at <URL Redacted>
Didn't mean to single you out. Your post was just convenient fodder. It
represented the attitudes that I hear coming from the O&P profession all too
well. I wanted to quote someone directly.
I don't think you clearly explained how my take on the causes that make it
economic suicide for you to enter our profession are not accurate.
I understand that, individually, most practitioners don't have the time or
resources to do the sorts of research, engineering and development that
really needs to be done. That's why you have groups like the Academy.
Ideally individuals like you pool your resources and set up research
centers... ASME (American Society of Mechanical Engineers) provides a venue
for the development of engineering standards. They even pay a few engineers
a professional salary to do the work. Why not do the same thing at the
Academy?
You make the mistake of comparing yourself to surgeons, again. There is no
comparison. It doesn't take a world renowned heart surgeon to fabricate a
good orthosis. It takes a good practitioner who takes a careful impression
and communicates the design needs to the technician who is fabricating the
orthosis. It also takes a technician who works with and listens to the
orthotist. They've both gotta be willing to learn from each other, too.
I happen to live in a place where, if I had a major health problem, I'd go
elsewhere. I don't think that that's a good excuse for the lack of good
professional O&P care in my area, though. Out of the 6 practitioners that
have built an orthosis for me in the last 30+ years, the two worst have been
in major metropolitan areas. At least one of those (maybe both, I don't
recall) was an ABC certified orthotist. I got the best orthotic care from a
little shop in a little town run by a BOC orthotist who had a technician and
a part time receptionist. So, major metropolitan areas are 0 for 2.
Suburban America is 1 for 4. I think I'll stick with the little guys.
By the way, there is an ABC accredited shop run by an ABC orthotist that is
no more than 10 miles from me. I still prefer to drive 100 miles.... so
much for credentials ensuring good care....
I noticed early on that the only guys you listen to were other orthotists or
prosthetists. No one else could ever understand the problems you have in
the clinic.... I'm sure that, to a certain extent, your view of
non-practitioners has been tainted by a few encounters with really nerdy
engineers and scientists who know more about math than they do about time
constraints, psychology, and communication. Yes, there are lots of those in
my field. We tend to get myopic and concentrate so hard on the problem we
are trying to solve that we lose sight of the big picture. It's impossible
for us to get our heads out of sand (or wherever else they might be
stuck...)
I've said too much, again.... just want to get dialogue going so that you
guys can start dealing with the issues that really affect patient care -
quality components, quality fits, effective R&D - and get over all this
bickering about certification.... it hasn't protected me from bad orthotic
care....
Karen
----Original Message Follows----
From: <Email Address Redacted>
To: <Email Address Redacted>
CC: <Email Address Redacted>
Subject: Re: [OANDP-L] Time in the Plaster Room
Date: Tue, 26 Dec 2000 22:23:24 EST
Karen:
Since you through my name around a few times I feel the need to respond. You
seem to need a bit more comprehension and a little less engineering because
you failed to grasp the meaning of my comment regarding the plaster room.
I
certainly didn't think everyone should spend time in the room; it was a
figure of speech. In other words the individual had a limited perspective,
albeit correct, that led him to judge the profession unfairly as to the
causes of his predicament. I think that individual and you share the same,
rather accurate perspective, but your take on the causes that make it
economic suicide for you to enter our profession are not accurate. Your
experience with less than competent practitioners aside, the field is not
dominated by these individuals. Geography however, does tend to concentrate
the average and below average talent to rural, and yes, less economically
viable practices. But the same is historically true for other medical fields
in rural areas. Have you berated the American Academy of Cardiac Surgeons as
well this week? Good and talented practitioners work in high volume,
demanding environments where the emphasis is on quality work and creative
solutions and the patient volume and pay is there to cultivate and reward
those talents. Just the environment that you would not only thrive in but
probably enjoy. The practitioner that was lucky enough to work with you
would
probably learn a great deal too. Orthotics is as much art, psychology, and
indeed experience as it is engineering. A bias in any direction that is
unbalanced creates holes in an individual's ability to meet the needs of a
certain patients. The profession is evolving. (That was the gist of my
previous comments in total) Any evolving profession or design for that
matter
undergoes change, improvement and sometimes failure. As a clinician, I
employ many engineering principles daily, practice psychology by the seat of
my pants as a necessity and most importantly have to make a business with
thin margins run on a daily basis, I am as frustrated with the fact that I
can't employ and pay you (and folks with your credentials) what you're worth
to get you in my business - just as you are with your wasted time and money.
If you could come in tomorrow and see 12 patients a day, converse
intelligently with physicians without upsetting their delicate egos, survive
encounters with therapists who run the gamut as far as experience and
perception of orthotists and still manage to design effective, cosmetic and
functional orthoses, and ... at the same time convince an insurer who has
even less education than me and my colleagues to pay you fairly and promptly
for your work: then I have a job for you, tomorrow. And you can name your
price! Call me if your confidence is as certain as your criticism. The
everyday practitioner has little to do with your predicament. The continuum
of time will show that our greatest failure has been our inability to
legitimize our profession with science and yes, engineering credentials. The
average practitioner is trying to survive and practice his/her livelihood.
There is little time to conspire to keep the very essence of our work from
linking up with us.
Jim Rogers, CPO
_________________________________________________________________
Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at <URL Redacted>
Citation
Karen Steele, “Re: Time in the Plaster Room,” Digital Resource Foundation for Orthotics and Prosthetics, accessed November 5, 2024, https://library.drfop.org/items/show/215578.
